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☆ Italy's birth rate is at a record low. Young Italians say they can't afford to have babies
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau Valentina Di Donato Antonia Mortensen | Barbie Latza Nadeau | Valentina Di Donato | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The birth rate in Italy has been declining steadily since the economic crisis in 2008, for reasons demographers agree is rooted in economic insecurity. In France, the birth rate is higher at 1.8 children per woman, according to figures for 2022 from its national statistics agency. The Catholic Church, which is a predominant political force, and the right-wing government under Meloni have both lamented the low birth rate, but have put up roadblocks to ways to remedy the situation. De Luca blames the government for not doing enough for the younger generation, in part because decades of low birth rates have made the youth a minority. Testa fears that the low birth rate is contagious.

Rome/London CNN —Italy’s government convened crisis talks Thursday to investigate the reasons behind a surge in prices for pasta, one of the country’s most beloved and culturally important foods. Pasta inflation moderated a bit in April but prices were still up 16.5% over 12 months. Pasta prices have soared despite the price of wheat — the main ingredient — falling in recent months. The price of durum wheat — a type of wheat popular among Italian pasta-makers — has fallen 30% since May 2022. Making pasta only requires mixing water with the wheat, the group said, giving “little justification” for the huge increase in retail prices.

☆ At Least 10,000 Foreign Companies to Be Hit by EU Sustainability Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The estimates exclude foreign companies that are subject to the reporting requirements due to other conditions, such as having an EU bond listing. Foreign companies with EU listings will need to start reporting these disclosures in 2025 if they have more than 500 employees in the EU. Businesses based in the EU that reported under the bloc’s previous sustainability rules must follow the new requirements from 2025. The EU rules call for limited-assurance audits to start, with a goal of eventually moving to reasonable assurance. Other sustainability reporting regulations are also set to go into effect in the next few years.

☆ NHL roundup: Wild, Stars seal playoff berths
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Despite the defeat, the Wild clinched a playoff berth thanks to the point for the overtime loss plus the Nashville Predators' 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars. William Karlsson had two assists and Keegan Kolesar also scored for Vegas, while Brossoit finished with 30 saves. Matt Boldy scored his 30th goal of the season and also had an assist and Brandon Duhaime and John Klingberg also scored goals for Minnesota. Jared McCann scored two goals for Seattle, and Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato and Carson Soucy each had a goal and an assist. Lawson Crouse scored the only goal of the game for the Coyotes, who are 0-6-2 in their past eight games.

In the data privacy case, Google has said its Chrome browser users consented to the company's data collection. The sanction in the data privacy action is not the first time Van Keulen has punished Google in the same case. The new sanctions order and the prior one from May 2022 addressed internal Google evidence concerning consumer use of the company's private browsing mode. Google, according to the judge's order, will be barred from relying on certain employee witnesses in the case. Van Keulen also said Google must pay fees associated with two experts working for the plaintiffs, and must also pay a $79,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said in his order that Google "fell strikingly short" in its duties to preserve records. Separately, the plaintiffs will have a chance to urge Donato to tell jurors that Google destroyed information that was unfavorable to it. The lawyers said Google was deleting chat records every 24 hours and "did so even after this litigation commenced." Google is separately fighting claims in a U.S. Justice Department antitrust case in Washington, D.C., federal court of destroyed chat records. The case is In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

☆ Federal judge rules Google tried to ‘hide the ball’ by deleting chat logs in a big antitrust case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —Google intentionally sought to “hide the ball” in a high-profile antitrust case by automatically deleting employee chat messages that could have been used as evidence in the suit, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, dealing a blow to the tech giant. But Donato repeatedly criticized Google this week for trying to keep sensitive chat logs out of the record. The Justice Department has filed a similar sanctions motion against Google in an ongoing antitrust suit over Google’s search business. Though that case is unfolding in a different federal court, Donato’s ruling Tuesday could give other courts more ammunition to reach the same conclusion. “We’ll continue to show the court how choice, security, and openness are built into Android and Google Play.”

Google should be sanctioned for failing to preserve chat messages between employees related to an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, a federal judge in California ruled on Tuesday. The company "adopted a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for keeping messages, at the expense of its preservation duties," the judge said in the filing. A Google spokesperson said at the time of the DOJ's filing that it disagrees with the DOJ's claims. Epic alleged that Google failed to retain chat messages between employees that it should have preserved while under a litigation hold. Exhibits presented by Epic seem to show that Google employees saw chats as a less formal way to communicate.

☆ DOJ alleges Google destroyed chat messages that it was required to save during antitrust investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

According to the DOJ, Google should have adjusted its defaults in mid-2019, "when the company reasonably anticipated this litigation." Meanwhile, DOJ alleged, Google "falsely" told the government it had "'put a legal hold in place' that 'suspends auto-deletion.'" The alleged issue is one that previously came up in Epic Games' antitrust litigation against Google. The DOJ alleged that even after Epic confronted Google about the chat deletion concerns in that case, Google still withheld its deletion policy from the federal government "and continued to destroy written communications in this case." Scallen said that if Google "didn't give clear directions to retain" relevant chats "this notion that they left it to the individuals, that's just not responsible."

The case involves a group of consumers who contend Facebook exploited user data to maintain its market power. Representatives for Quinn Emanuel and Facebook declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Hagens Berman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Scarlett in recent court filings said Quinn Emanuel was not respecting her view as a leading antitrust attorney based on her gender. Quinn Emanuel denied the claim, saying it has "worked very hard to be cooperative with all counsel on the case, including female counsel." Donato started the appointment process from scratch in January amid quarreling between Seattle-based plaintiffs' firm Hagens Berman and 900-lawyer Quinn Emanuel.

"While we disagree with the allegations in this case, we are pleased to have resolved this legacy issue," a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in a statement. Wells Fargo disclosed in July 2017 that hundreds of thousands of customers had been unnecessarily charged for "collateral protection insurance," which covers auto lenders when borrowers are uninsured. The bank also concealed auto insurance issues from the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in November 2016, the investors alleged. Wells Fargo settled an auto borrower class action in 2019 for $386 million without admitting wrongdoing. In 2018, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $1 billion to U.S. regulators to settle probes of its auto insurance and mortgage practices.

Part of the clash included a Hagens Berman partner accusing Quinn Emanuel of discounting her views based on her gender. Quinn Emanuel denied the allegation, calling it a "mystery." The two law firms on Friday night submitted their pitches to Donato about why he should appoint them solely rather than jointly to lead the consumer class. A representative from Hagens Berman did not immediately comment, and a Quinn Emanuel spokesperson declined to comment. Hagens Berman and Quinn Emanuel have been on opposite sides in other cases.

☆ Shares of Roblox pop after December update shows increase in bookings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of Roblox popped 13% on Tuesday after the gaming company released its December 2022 metrics report. It showed estimated bookings were between $430 million and $439 million for the month, up 17% to 20% year over year. Roblox calls its revenue figure bookings. The December report seemed to encourage investors after shares of Roblox closed down 15.7% when the company released its November business update. That report showed slowing growth and a decline in how much it earns from its daily users.

☆ Laid-off Twitter workers have been forced to drop their class-action lawsuit demanding more severance pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The five laid-off workers had signed arbitration agreements agreeing not to bring suits against Twitter. "Twitter provided signed copies of the agreements, and they are all clear and straightforward," Donato wrote in the order. Since Elon Musk took ownership of the company in late October, Twitter has laid off thousands of workers. Shannon Liss-Riordan, the attorney representing the laid-off Twitter workers, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of regular working hours. She said that she had already filed 500 individual arbitration demands, with more to come.

☆ Twitter’s laid-off workers cannot pursue claims via class-action lawsuit, judge says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter (TWTR) has secured a ruling allowing the social media company to force several laid-off workers suing over their termination to pursue their claims via individual arbitration rather than a class-action lawsuit. US District Judge James Donato on Friday ruled that five former Twitter employees pursuing a proposed class action accusing the company of failing to give adequate notice before laying them off after its acquisition by Elon Musk must pursue their claims in private arbitration. Donato granted Twitter’s request to force the five ex-employees to pursue their claims individually, citing agreements they signed with the company. The lawyer who represents the plaintiffs, Shannon Liss-Riordan, said on Monday that she had already filed 300 demands for arbitration on behalf of former Twitter employees and would likely file hundreds more. Those workers all claim they have not received the full severance package promised by Twitter before Musk took over.

☆ Twitter's laid-off workers cannot pursue claims via class-action lawsuit, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter Inc has secured a ruling allowing the social media company to force several laid-off workers suing over their termination to pursue their claims via individual arbitration than a class-action lawsuit. Donato granted Twitter's request to force the five ex-employees to pursue their claims individually, citing agreements they signed with the company. The lawyer who represents the plaintiffs, Shannon Liss-Riordan, said on Monday that she had already filed 300 demands for arbitration on behalf of former Twitter employees and would likely file hundreds more. Those workers all claim they have not received the full severance package promised by Twitter before Musk took over. The judge said that before asking workers to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the company, Twitter must give them "a succinct and plainly worded notice".

☆ Twitter's laid-off workers asked to drop lawsuit over severance, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 14 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has secured a ruling allowing the social media company to force several laid-off workers suing over their termination to pursue their claims via individual arbitration than a class-action lawsuit. Donato granted Twitter's request to force the five ex-employees to pursue their claims individually, citing agreements they signed with the company. The judge said that before asking workers to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the company, Twitter must give them "a succinct and plainly worded notice". Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, and hundreds more subsequently resigned. Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru and Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NHL roundup: Wings escape 4-goal hole, top Pens in OT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dylan Larkin, Joe Veleno, Jonatan Berggren and David Perron also scored and Lucas Raymond had two assists for the Red Wings, who won their second straight game. In Tampa Bay's fifth straight home victory, Alex Killorn and Brandon Hagel tallied while Victor Hedman had two assists. Flames 3, Kraken 2Jonathan Huberdeau scored the tiebreaking goal with eight minutes remaining as Calgary won at Seattle. Adam Henrique scored two goals for Anaheim, the 25th multi-goal game of his career, while Terry and Zegras each assisted on both goals. Mark Stone and Ben Hutton scored for the Golden Knights, who lost consecutive road games for the first time this season.

☆ NHL roundup: Jordan Staal completes Hurricanes' rally vs. Penguins
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

December 19 - Jordan Staal's goal with 6:27 to play gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 comeback victory against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. However, Pittsburgh's seven-game winning streak, which was the longest active mark in the NHL, came to a close. Derek Stepan and Brady Skjei both had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who have three one-goal victories to begin a four-game homestand. Brock McGinn scored at the 5:03 mark of the third to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead before Skjei provided the equalizer and Staal put home the game-winner. Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and an assist as seven Rangers notched multiple points.

Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, the world's richest person, and hundreds more subsequently resigned. The lawsuit says Twitter failed to give the 60 days notice required by federal and California laws before engaging in mass layoffs. Donato in the ruling said asking workers to waive legal claims against Twitter without telling them about the lawsuit would be misleading. Twitter had agreed not to seek releases from laid-off workers pending Donato's decision. The lawsuits accuse Twitter of failing to give contract workers notice before laying them off and discriminating against women and employees with disabilities.

☆ Former employees suing Twitter over layoffs score an early victory
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —A group of former employees suing Elon Musk’s Twitter scored an early win Wednesday when a judge ordered the company to inform any laid-off staffers of the pending lawsuit. The order may be an early indication that the judge could be sympathetic to the employees’ argument. He later pushed out additional employees, asking remaining workers to agree to an ultimatum to work “hardcore” or leave the company. The others include complaints related to alleged disability and gender-based discrimination, as well as a suit on behalf of Twitter contractors who were laid off. The employees are seeking unspecified monetary damages, as well as a ruling that Twitter violated the California and federal WARN Acts requiring advanced notice of mass layoffs.

The class members are Google Play Store individual consumers in 12 states, including Ohio, Michigan and Georgia, in addition to American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The plaintiffs' lawyers in the newly certified class action are jointly working with those state enforcers. Google has defended its Play Store business practices, denying the claims in the case before Donato and others. In arguing against class-action certification, attorneys for Google said the plaintiffs failed to show how they were harmed, an argument that Donato rejected. The class attorneys allege among other things that Google prohibited app developers from steering customers to competitors and used "misleading warnings to deter customers from downloading apps outside the Google Play Store."

☆ Juventus: Entire soccer club board of directors resigns over charges of false accounting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Valentina Di Donato | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The entire board of directors of Juventus, including the club’s President Andrea Agnelli and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, has resigned over charges of false accounting, a statement from the Italian soccer club said Monday. The Serie A team’s financial statements underwent scrutiny by prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob in recent months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. Upon the proposal of Agnelli, the board agreed that it was in the best interest of the club for a new board to take over at Juventus. In its final meeting, the board appointed Maurizio Scanavino as General Manager until a new board of directors will be confirmed in a meeting scheduled for January 18. Juve is third in Serie A – 10 points behind leader Napoli – but failed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.

☆ A Mystery Hidden in a Family Photograph
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( David Botti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Now I wondered if I could use these same skills to find my great-grandfather’s house. The inscription contained a familiar name: “Henri Cartier-Bresson” — a giant of 20th century photojournalism. Henri Cartier-Bresson visited Scanno in the early 1950s, as part of a wave of journalists looking to document World War II’s effects on Europe’s impoverished regions. Henri Cartier-Bresson had taken that photograph from the very spot where Donato was born. Fernando Scianna Mario Giacomelli Henri Cartier-Bresson And it’s easy to see that the work still inspires pilgrimages to the steps.

Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing that the ban from Twitter marked "overtly partisan censorship" and was "contrary to First Amendment principles deeply rooted in American history and law." His lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and a court order requiring Twitter to "immediately reinstate" his account that was permanently suspended on Jan. 8, 2021. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, and a Twitter spokesperson did not immediately reply. A lawyer for Trump, John Coale in Washington, told Reuters on Monday, "We want him to have the right to get back on" to Twitter. Donato also denied Trump's claim that Twitter was serving as a "state actor" when it banned his account.

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